Pope Leo XIV and Vice President JD Vance met at the Vatican on Monday, ahead of a flurry of US-led diplomatic efforts to advance a cease-fire in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Vance, a Catholic convert, led the US delegation to the formal Mass that inaugurated the pontificate of the first American pope. Vance spokesperson Luke Schroeder confirmed that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Catholic, attended the meeting on Monday.
“There was an exchange of views on some current international issues, calling for respect for humanitarian law and international law in areas of conflict and for a negotiated solution between the parties involved,” according to a statement released by the Vatican following their meeting.
There was also the customary exchange of gifts, with Vance giving the Chicago-born pontiff a Bears jersey with the name “Pope Leo” and the number “XIV.” The Pope is also a White Sox fan, according to his brother, who confirmed this earlier this month.
Vance’s office stated that he also gave the pope two books by St. Augustine, “The City of God” and “On “Christian Doctrine.” The vice president’s office stated that Vance chose St. Augustine as his patron saint after converting to Catholicism and being baptized in 2019. Pope Leo had previously led the Augustinian order worldwide.
The Vatican listed Vance’s delegation as the first of several private audiences Leo was holding Monday with people who had traveled to Rome for his inaugural Mass, including other Christian leaders and a group of faithful from his former diocese in Chiclayo, Peru.
The Vatican, which was largely ignored during Russia’s initial three-year invasion of Ukraine, has offered to host any peace talks while continuing humanitarian efforts to facilitate prisoner swaps and reunite Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.
After briefly greeting Leo at the end of Sunday’s Mass, Vance spent the rest of the day in various meetings, including one with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He also met with European Union Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni, who expressed hope that the trilateral meeting would mark a “new beginning.”
Meloni spoke by phone with President Trump and several other European leaders in the evening, ahead of Mr. Trump’s scheduled meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, according to a statement from Meloni’s office.
Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost, is a Chicago-born Augustinian missionary who spent the majority of his ministry in Chiclayo, a commercial city of about 800,000 on Peru’s northern Pacific coast.
In the days following his election on May 8, Leo promised to make “every effort” to bring peace to Ukraine. He has also emphasized his commitment to Pope Francis, who has made caring for migrants and the poor a priority during his pontificate.
Prior to his election, Prevost shared news articles on X that were critical of the Trump administration’s plans for mass deportations of immigrants.
Vance was among the last foreign officials to meet with Francis before the Argentine pope died on April 21. The two had argued about migration, with Francis publicly criticizing the Trump administration’s deportation plan and correcting Vance’s theological justification for it.